Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - The Other Dr. Gilmer: Two Men, a Murder, and an Unlikely Fight for Justice

Trigger Warning: CSA, it's not mentioned until like halfway through the book but it can be pretty graphic and it's mentioned again quite frequently after that. Also, attempted SA. It'll also probably ruin the song "Ba, ba, black sheep". I would read this book with caution as they are some scenes (like the two previously mentioned) that can be hard to swallow. The book also goes into depth about mental illness, how they affect the incarcerated, and those around us.

I really enjoy books about two people with the same names who inexplicably share very similar lives despite not knowing each other. This was exactly what this book was. Dr. Vince Gilmer and Dr. Benjamin Gilmer are two men who both followed the path of medicine which lead them, at different times, to the community of Crane Creek. Both worked as family physicians, hoping to change their patients lives one. Dr. Vince Gilmer had unusual methods to solving patients problems. He often took them for walks, showed up at their houses, and spent evenings on their porches drinking and laughing. Until one day he snaps and strangles his ailing father on their way to transfer Dr. Vince Gilmer's father to a new mental institute. Some years after the incident Dr. Benjamin Gilmer after finishing his residency, shows up at the same clinic that used to be ran by the beloved Dr. Vince Gilmer. When Dr. Benjamin Gilmer discovers the clinic was ran by his namesake he is launched into a journey of discovery, truth, and heart ache. Who was Dr. Vince Gilmer? What made him snap and strangle his father? Dr. Benjamin Gilmer through the years with a slew of lawyers, journalists, and the support of Dr. Vince Gilmer's old patients Dr. Benjamin Gilmer goes on a search for what really happened that night and what has happened since Dr. Vince Gilmer has been incarcerated.

This was a great book. It had a nice mix of medical/legal jargon that didn't overwhelm the reader and was greatly explained as to not make the reader lost as to what is being talked about. It also was a fascinating story on how two people lives can intersect during multiple points much to the knowledge of neither of them. The book had me rooting for Dr. Benjamin Gilmer to get justice for Dr. Vince Gilmer. Especially after his diagnosis and realizing that he wasn't getting the proper treatment while in jail. I really liked how it showed the fight for justice is long and continuous and involves many different people with various skills and abilities. Although I went into the book expecting more of the true crime side of it, I'm glad that the book was way more personal than that. It opened my eyes to how fighting for what's right is a process. One that really is never over.

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lilacsandliterature's review

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challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

This was an amazing read that covered so many topics - a terrible crime, mental illness, incarceration, humanity and dignity. It was an inspiring read about those who put time into the right causes and look beyond statistics and numbers to the person behind bars. It opened such a great conversation about how we treat the mentally ill (in a “reactive not proactive way”) and the importance of competent doctors, lawyers, and law enforcement that should be working together, not against each other.

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